The Time I Spent With You
by Light-Eco-Sage
Summary: At every moment, Ashi expected to fade out of existence, but for some reason fate had chosen to give her a little more time with Jack. She was not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. A look into the time between Aku's destruction and Ashi fading from existence in the finale. (Jack/Ashi pairing)
1. The Beginning

**The Time I Spent With You**

 **Rated: Teen for romance (Jack/Ashi).**

 **Summary: At every moment, Ashi expected to fade out of existence, but for some reason fate had chosen to give her a little more time with Jack. She was not going to look a gift horse in the mouth.**

 **Disclaimer: _Samurai Jack_ is created by Genndy Tartakovsky.**

 **LES: This story is based on the fact that at the very least Jack and Ashi had perhaps a year living together in the past before she faded out of existence in the finale. This is judged by the fact that Jack's teachers had the time to travel to Japan for Jack and Ashi's wedding, a feat that would have taken months in the medieval world. Oh, and I'm new to the fandom, so I don't know if what I'm about to say will be grounds for getting raked over the coals, but for this story I've decided to make up Jack's true name. I know that she calls him Jack just before she fades, but I find it hard to believe that she could have lived in the palace for months without someone (especially Jack's parents) saying his true name. The name I have chosen for the purpose is Masahiko, which means "just prince".**

* * *

 **Chapter 1: The Beginning**

* * *

Both Jack and Ashi ran out of Aku's tower as fast as they could, Jack keeping a firm grip on Ashi's hand. With the other hand, he held the sleeve of his gi up in front of his mouth to block out the dust and smoke as explosions began to tear the structure apart.

"We must get out now!" Jack yelled. He could hear the floors above starting to collapse down towards them.

Ashi narrowed her eyes in determination and raised her hand. Aku was being destroyed down to his very essence, but it seemed that she still had some of the evil demon's powers within her. She turned her hand into a large claw and tore down one of the walls leading them outside. Without wasting another second, they both leapt out of the building, fell a fair distance, before landing hard on the ground.

They barely took the time to catch their breath before they began running again, away from the tower as it exploded and collapsed. Finally, there was one last massive explosion, which lifted the running couple off their feet and flung them away from the fireball that engulfed what was once Aku's lair. Thankfully, years of combat experience let them keep their sense of balance and they both landed on their feet, skidding and turned around to face the destruction as Aku's tower was swallowed up by the earth, never to be seen again.

For a couple of moments, they could only stare in wonder and shock. Aku, the being single-handedly responsible for leading the world into ruin, and almost destroying both of their lives, was obliterated. _After all these years… my quest is at an end._ Jack thought in amazement.

But his attention was drawn towards the woman standing at his side when she cried out and collapsed down in the dirt. "Ashi!" He crouched down next to her, staring at her with concern. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing..." She answered slowly. "Nothing's wrong. I'm fine. I… I felt Aku leave me!"

Jack sighed with relief. Seeing Ashi being controlled by Aku like a puppet had been one of the most horrific things he had ever seen in his fight against Aku, and knowing that Aku was gone and could never do that to Ashi or anyone else again brought peace to Jack's heart that he'd been living without for decades. "Aku is gone. He'll never hurt anyone else again." He said, pulling Ashi into an embrace.

Ashi allowed herself to be lost in his warm embrace. But the tiniest part of her kept wondering… _why am I still here?_ As much as she denied it to herself, Aku really was her biological father. And now the demon had been destroyed in Jack's past, thousands of years before she had been conceived. Was it possible… would she be able to exist even without Aku?

But that seemed very unlikely. She couldn't truly rid herself of her father any more than anyone else could rid themselves of their father's DNA. Aku was a fundamental part of her existence.

Perhaps… perhaps there was a chance that the timeline had branched instead of being over-written? After all, a different version of Jack had just been sent into that future. If that future didn't exist anymore… was he dead now? And if he had died how could he have then come back and…

Even more than the mental battle for the right of her body against Aku, these thoughts were the one giving her the biggest headache. She was not a scientist and therefore could not even begin to speculate on the nature of time. And the scientists in Jack's time… well to be as nice as possible about it, a majority of them still had a foot in the dark ages. So there were no answers forthcoming from them.

The only thing that Ashi knew was that her existence was not certain anymore. And if she was suddenly going to fade away from existence, she would spend every moment she could giving Jack all the happiness he deserved.

Ashi pulled out of his embrace to meet his eyes, fully intending to tell him that it was possible that her days were numbered, and that there was no way she could know how long she had left if she was going to get torn away from him. But the words died in her throat when she met his eyes.

She remembered, when she was on the verge of giving up and allowing Aku to own her mind and body, she remembered hearing Jack yell that he loved her. And when she gazed into his eyes now, she could see that while the words had been screamed in desperation, he had meant them.

Aku was defeated, Jack was back in his own time, and his people and family were waiting for him like he had never left. He was happy, giving her one of the biggest smiles she had ever seen on him. How could she dash that happiness? It wasn't like life was a certainty for anyone. Hell, as a warrior, Jack could get killed in a battle tomorrow and all her worries about possibly fading away and leaving him behind would come to nothing. No one could be certain what tomorrow would bring. But Ashi knew that she was here now, in Jack's arms. And at once she knew that she didn't intend to waste a single moment.

Their kiss on the alien spaceship had seemed a lifetime ago, but their mouths met once again with surprising ease. Neither of them even noticed as the last traces of Aku on her body evaporated away, leaving her in the prison frock that she'd taken from the spaceship.

The kiss seemed to last for hours, with only the sounds of soft breathing and moans coming from the couple. But the reality was that only ten minutes passed before night began to fall and Jack and Ashi reluctantly pulled away from each other, out of breath and with swollen lips.

After a moment, Jack reverted back towards being shy and nervous around her. He blushed when he met her eyes, and then quickly stood up and offered her his hand. She accepted his hand and they stood up, and took one last look at the remains of Aku's tower.

"Are you ready to go back home?" Ashi asked.

For quite a while, Jack did not answer, and then he sighed and turned to face Ashi with a smile. "Yes. I'm ready to finally go home." Ashi smiled in return and linked her arm around his. Jack blushed once again, but relaxed under her touch. Without another word or another glance back, they began to trek away from Aku's devastated tower and back towards where Jack's home used to stand.

* * *

What Ashi did not realize was that there was a reason that she did not fade away the instant Aku was destroyed. But that did not mean that she was completely safe. Time is a dimension, a dimension bound so tightly to normal space that it was often impossible to tell the two apart. Everything moving through the fabric of space-time was bound to the same laws of physics. In this case, the speed of light.

Information cannot travel from one end of time to the other instantaneously unless one employed a wormhole. Aku's destruction had caused a shift in the future history of the world, but there had been no wormhole or time portal involved to take that information straight into the future.

A quantum shift was traveling through the fabric of space-time, changing the entire future history of the world as it went. But it would take time: months, if not a year, for the information of Aku's destruction to make its way forward in time to the moment when Aku had visited the Cult of Aku and given them a cup of his essence, thus enabling the High Priestess to drink of his essence and bare Aku's daughters.

The shift was slower than instant, but it was still happening and the progress of the quantum shift could not be stopped. It would eventually wipe Ashi out of existence. All that could be done is for her to live life the way she saw fit until that moment happened.

* * *

 **LES: So the point of this is to basically try to come up with a reason why Ashi didn't immediately fade away once Aku was destroyed. I know that's a big plot hole in the whole "she fades away thing", so I hope that I came up with something at least a little believable.**


	2. Reunited With The Emperor

**LES: Why am I not jumping on the band wagon and frantically writing a story so that Ashi survives and lives a happy life with Jack in the past? Well, I suppose besides the fact that there are all ready dozens of stories on this site alone dealing with that, it's because I'm not pissed off at how the show ended. One of my high school English teachers taught me that an ending does not need to be happy to be satisfying. Yes, the ending was very sad for those who, like me, shipped Jack and Ashi together, but that doesn't lessen the impact of the ending in my mind. I'm fully convinced that the fifth season as a whole was a masterpiece and the final episode cemented that. I ship one other couple that suffered a similar fate (one of them fading into non-existence at the end of their quest), but that was a video game couple that I'd literally spent well over a hundred hours with.** **Genndy Tartakovsky** **got me to be just as invested in Jack and Ashi's relationship in a little under five hours. So much so that I just about cried at the end. He did something really magical with the fifth season, so I want to write a story about that.**

 **Chapter 2: Reunited with the Emperor**

* * *

When it came time to leave, both Jack and Ashi were a little shocked to see an animal trotting towards them through the settling dust of the destruction of Aku's tower. Ashi tensed up, ready for another fight. But before she could attack, Jack calmly placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Wait. I don't think that's an enemy." He said, keeping his eyes on the approaching animal.

But even Jack was shocked when the animal became fully visible. A steed with a nearly-white coat pranced into view, tossing his head proudly and quickly moving closer to Jack.

The samurai recognized the animal at once: the same horse that had carried him into his first battle with Aku. It had been over fifty years since Jack had last seen this horse, but it had only been about two hours at the most from the horse's perspective. So it only made sense that the horse had waited for him.

It took Jack some time to remember the horse's name. But then he smiled and gently pet the horse's muzzle. "Daisuke, I should have known you'd wait for me."

"Is he your horse?" Ashi asked, slowly moving forward to pat the horse, while still a little nervous of the large animal.

"I suppose if you want to be technical, he is my father's horse." Jack said. "But he is the same horse that first carried me here all those years ago. Now he'll carry me back home again." Jack said, turning to Ashi. "Have you ever ridden a normal horse?"

Ashi shook her head. "I've never ridden on an animal this small." She said.

Jack smiled. "It will be fine. I'll help you up."

Ashi stared at the horse in confusion. It seemed far too small to be able to carry two people. "Are you sure it can carry the two of us?"

"I'm sure." Jack said, picking her up by the waist and lifting her up until she could sit on the horse with both her legs hanging down one side. Once she was seated, Jack easily pulled himself up on the Daisuke's back, sitting down behind Ashi.

Ashi was a little shocked when the horse could support both her and Jack, and seemed to not be bothered by the extra weight at all. With Daisuke's thin legs, they should have buckled like twigs. But the horse was obviously stronger than it looked.

But she stopped wondering about the horse when Jack wrapped his arms around her to take hold of the reigns. The young woman blushed at the intimate contact and, from a glance back towards Jack, she could see that he was blushing lightly as well.

He cleared his throat nervously. "Shall we?" He asked.

Ashi nodded and held onto the only thing she trusted: Jack's arm. With the slightest command, Daisuke set off at a pace a little faster than a walk.

* * *

Due to Jack keeping Daisuke at a slow and even pace, it took longer than the couple of hours that Jack took on his original journey towards Aku's tower for him to make it back to the mines where he left his father and his people.

In fact, it was the next morning when the mine came into view. Ashi stared around in shock as Jack directed Daisuke through the mines. As the people saw him, they all began to bow towards him. Jack had told her once that he was the son of an Emperor, but it was hard to believe until this moment.

A wave of sound washed over them, dozens of voices calling that the prince had returned. Ashi lowered her head, trying to make herself less visible. These were Jack's people, people that she'd nearly stolen him from. How could she really face them after what she'd done?

But, to Ashi's shock, Jack seemed to be just as nervous as she was. He hunched his shoulders and only rarely made eye contact with anyone.

Truthfully, Jack was ashamed. They had no idea, but the last fifty years were weighing heavily on his heart. To them, it had only been hours, but to Jack he had been failing them for years. Even now, in success, he couldn't forget the years of failure.

The crowd parted, and Daisuke followed the path until the path ended with an older man waited for them at the entrance of the mine.

Jack slowed Daisuke to a halt and lowered himself off the horse. He paused briefly to help Ashi down before he stepped forward to the old man. To Ashi's shock, Jack promptly knelt down before the man, bowing with his forehead touching the ground. And then Jack looked up and met the older man's eyes. "Father."

To Ashi's shock, the Emperor wasted no time in joining his son on the ground and pulling him into an embrace. Jack stiffened in shock before he relaxed in his father's arms. For several long minutes, no one moved as the Emperor welcomed back his son. Finally, he pulled away from his son and asked. "Aku?"

"Aku has been destroyed, Father." Jack answered. "We are free at last."

"Then you have fulfilled your destiny. I couldn't be prouder of you, Masahiko."

Jack blinked in shock. _Masahiko_. Yes, that was the name his parents had given him. He had not heard it in over fifty years and had almost forgotten what his true name was. It felt a little strange to be called his true name again after all these years.

"Who is Masahiko?" Ashi asked.

Once everyone was looking at her, Ashi blushed nervously again.

Jack gave her a small smile. "Masahiko is my real name." He told her.

Ashi stared at Jack in shock. "Then why did you let everyone call you Jack?"

"It's a long story." Jack said.

"Masahiko, who is this young woman?" The Emperor asked, staring at Ashi in confusion. His son had left to fight Aku a less than a day ago, and now he was back in the company of a strangely dressed woman and speaking to her as if they had known each other for years.

"And that… is an even longer story." Jack said. "Father, I'll tell you everything. But we should return home and send for mother. Then I'll tell you everything that happened while I was gone."

The Emperor didn't understand what was going on, but he could tell from the serious look in his son's eyes that something life-changing had happened when he went to fight Aku. So the sooner that they got back home and reunited with his wife, the sooner everything would be cleared up. "Very well. Just give us some time to prepare to travel. Some of us have suffered more in Aku's mines than others."

* * *

The mine had a very limited supply of beasts of burden, and a few horses and donkeys. One of the horses was immediately given to the Emperor, while Jack made sure that the weak, sick, old, and young were given the priority for the rest of the animals. There was not enough animals for everyone to ride, so the healthier villagers would have to settle for walking.

But no one complained. Many of the former soldiers and guards who served the Emperor even elected to carry those who needed help after all the animals had been claimed.

It took several hours, but the former slaves were ready to go back home. Ashi understood that the Emperor and Jack… Masahiko (she was sure it would take a long time for her to get used to calling him by his true name), were given horses because they were royalty. But she was nothing of the sort. She was even less than the lowest ranked member of Jack's village. She wasn't even really human. Aku's powers had left her, but he was still her father. So she was fully prepared to walk with the rest of the able-bodied villagers.

But before she could join them, Jack rode up and pulled her into his lap once again. Ashi let out a gasp of shock and blushed with embarrassment. "I really shouldn't..."

"You should." Jack insisted. "Trust me, Ashi, you belong here now."

 _Do I really?_ Ashi wondered, but then pushed the thought away.

But she still blushed nervously when she saw Jack's father watching them.


End file.
